Communication problems continue to plague offensive line

ARLINGTON – Communication issues are the reason why the Cowboys are having so many pre-snap penalties, coach Jason Garrett said.

Six of the Cowboys’ 13 penalties in Sunday’s 16-10 win over Tampa Bay were for false starts (right tackle Doug Free had three, tight end Jason Witten had two and Tyron Smith had one).

“The communication at the line of scrimmage, we just have to clean up,” Garrett said. “I think some of the other penalties that have happened were almost effort penalties, guys trying to do too much and getting hands up in a face mask or some things that occur in a ballgame. You have to address those as well. We constantly address ‘do your job,’ and sometimes a guy wants to do their job well and get themselves in trouble. The pre-snap penalties we’ve just got to eliminate. We’ll keep working as a coach staff on it.”

Center Ryan Cook agreed that cleaning up the penalties has to be a priority in practice this week.

“There was a mental error here and a mental error there, and they just continue to add up,” Cook said. “And, obviously, there was way too many today. Those were particular drive killers for us and kept putting us back even after we made conversions. So, we just have to get those fixed.”

Quarterback Tony Romo pointed to the lack of continuity in the offensive line. With center Phil Costa sidelined since earlier in the season opener with a back injury, none of the starters were at the same positions last season.

“I just think we just need to continue to get reps,” Romo said. “We have had a lot of them, but, at the same time, Ryan and getting everyone together for about two and a half weeks now. It’s still early in the process, so we would like that stuff to be smoother and it will get better as we go forward.”

Asked if he’s concerned that the bulk of the penalties were committed by veterans, Romo said, “Well, I don’t have an answer to that other than that we need to focus on that and do better with it.”